If you started with us at the beginning, you've been writing your life stories for the better part of a year. Now it's time to assess what you've written and begin to put it together into a narrative. From this point on, we will be giving you weekly assignments and tips to help along the way.

If you've recently joined us, you may want to build up a few more stories before you begin this part of the challenge. You can always come back to these posts when you are ready. To continue your daily writing, pick something else from the archive, this question list, or write more on something you wrote earlier. For more information about the challenge, read this post.

TODAY'S 15-MINUTE CHALLENGE

This week's exercises are meant to get you in the story mindset. The better you understand what a story is, the more interesting your writing will be.

For the rest of this week, go through your story cards. See if you can identify the setting, plot, characters, conflict, and theme of each. Don't overthink this, but just be aware of whether it is a complete story or if not, if it can be made into a story. Can story fragments be combined to tell a complete story? Is this a story or a report?

Take these assignments at your own pace. They are meant only to get you started and to give you a step-by-step process. Depending on how much you have already written, it may take you longer to complete each section.

If you want to keep going after the 15 minutes are up, go for it!

Have a question or challenge or triumph to share? Feel free to comment below.

Writing a memoir or autobiography is a daunting, overwhelming task, one that requires hours/days/years of uninterrupted time. Not to mention a degree in English. And a trust fund so you can quit your day job.

Wait, but...NO!.

It doesn't have to be that way. Writing a story can be really quite simple, like washing your hair. Three simple steps: Lather, rinse, repeat.